JI, we have what appears to be a Gaviscon similar to Gaviscon Advance which has more alginate in it and I use that as necessary to combat a large pour of acid into the stomach. Thanks for your advice and yes, it does work quite well.

bearsmom, I haven’t been allowing myself rice because I gave up all grains last December apart from the puffed ricecakes. However, I will try your suggestion about a small amount of jasmine rice as a possible replacement or rotation with puffed ricecakes (which appear to have a low FP according to Norm’s tables). I know the puffed ricecakes are a processed food but I have used them for many a year as a platform for breakfast when wheat toast has given me problems. If I were to dop the ricecakes I’d have to turn to something like omelettes (adding even more eggs to my diet) and would find these rather rich for breakfast. I allow myself two serves of yoghurt a day for later in the day when I get hungry (or to give the acid surges something to think about) and so I probably shouldn’t have it for breakfast as well. I find it hard to be creative about breakfast. I eat only about 4-5 tablespoons a day of watermelon – my only fruit – but as you say, I may have to reconsider this in the future.

I’m anticipating the majority of my digestive woes are being caused by the reduction of Nexium. There are so many, many people across the internet struggling to get off PPIs and it’s obvious the medical model for treating GERD/LPR is broken and must be reassessed. Of course funds for further research about better ways to alleviate GERD will not be coming from the pharmaceutical companies anytime soon. Nuff said about that!

Doubling the Nexium last December got me into trouble as per my first post and so I put myself on pretty much the same diet I used to completely overcome long-term candida because I knew how good that way of eating made me feel overall and how it balanced my system. It was an act of desperation switching to this diet from one day to the next because it takes some adjusting but I was helped by the fact I’d done it all before and the rewards back then were outstanding. In fact, I stayed with that stringent diet for almost 10 years. I lost too much weight but felt great. It took me 12 months to completely overcome the candida using diet but that is another story. I ate no grains on that diet until ricecakes became available.

I’m a little nervous about being liberal with saturated fats as I have two first-degree relatives who have needed cardiac bypass surgery in their 60s plus two extended family members. I know fats have recently been thought not to contribute to heart disease but I think it will take a while, and as such some proof, before this becomes accepted by a public who were led to believe otherwise some time ago. Having said that, I’m eating butter, coconut oil and my yoghurt is full cream. I’m about to have a cholesterol check so that will be interesting.

My diet fits closely with Norm’s FP tables and I’ve dropped things like banana so that I am eating only those foods with a low FP. After eating this way for just over two months my large intestine feels so good because I can’t feel it. LOL. Previously I had chronic constipation, uncomfortable wind at times, which I guess could mean the intestines were a bit inflammed, bloating and sometimes cramps which my doctor told me was IBS. I’m 98 per cent regular now and this coincided with starting to juice vegetables. I have no more than a quarter of a cup of juiced veges before each meal as I don’t want to overdo it. Now that there is some stomach acid in play I’m dropping the apple cider vinegar I was drinking in water before each meal. The ACV was a godsend for the heartburn that the double dose of Nexium created but I don’t think it’s a natural thing to drink this past the necessary time although some would disagree with this. It wasn’t doing my throat any favours and I suppose that was my main motivation for dropping it – will see how that goes.

I will be interested to see how the landscape looks when I can finally dispense with the Nexium and the lingering rebound. Then I will obviously have a much better idea of how much my eating plan is helping from the small intestine upwards. My energy has improved other than for the times I get bogged down in anxiety and worry about what damage may be occuring to my oesophagus, throat and larynx on the bad days. Anxiety steals so much energy. I’m a meditator and practice mindfulness as well as I am able to and that all helps. I do marvel at the ability of the body to recover or partially recover from the reflux episodes. For one thing, these months of what feels like chronic ill health is forcing me to learn how to find peace amongst the turmoil if only for short periods but those periods are regenerating.

I’m probably starting to ramble so will sign off now. Thanks bearsmom and JI for your interest.

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